Everything old is new again I see. Monarchies, theocracies, feudalism, etc. are based on the presumption that the "commoner" is incapable of ruling her/himself and that it is the holy privilege of a select few to rule.
Bullshit.
People are more educated, more connected, more aware of society on a large scale than ever before. Now is the time to have more democracy, not less. Eliminate the electoral college system so that voters outside of Iowa, California, and Florida get to decide national elections. Have more binding referendums and propositions so that people aren't stuck voting on which guy or gal in their town looks best in a suit but on actual issues that affect their lives.
Sure, voters don't research candidates and issues as much as we'd like and it would be great to have more scientists, engineers, and doctors running for office rather than lawyers and CEO's. That's idealism. To say that people simply aren't smart enough to govern themselves is elitist, bordering on fascist. I would rather be ruled by the collective will of a population with an 8th grade average literacy rate than the singular will of a man who happened to be born into the "right" family.
Sounds like a great deal, actually. I get free off-site storage and all I have to do it put little post-it notes over the webcams on my computers. I'd change the color each day, just to give their consumer data algorithm something different to look at. Only draw-back is the resulting spam email with offers for pills that will turn my penis yellow or electric blue.
This is similar to the NYC subway system. On weekdays for most lines, trains basically run every 5-10 minutes. Its always amusing when tourists walk up to me and ask what time the next train is scheduled to arrive. The flip side of that, of course, is the unpredictable delays due to track fires, random line work, winos pulling the emergency brake cord, express trains suddenly turning into locals, etc.
Please PLEASE have the things say, in a deep electronic voice, "Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof." while walking. If they do that, I will buy all of them immediately.
This is a complaint I occasionally get in my classes - that students have trouble taking notes while listening to my lecture. Or, that they can't write down what's on the board and take notes on what I'm saying. I like to think it hasn't been too long since I was in school last, but maybe I'm older than I realize.
So, how exactly are teachers presenting information to classes at the junior high school level and above these days? I remember teachers talking while I wrote down key points and summaries of what they were saying. I remember copying or summarizing material they put up on a chalk board, transparency, or occasional powerpoint while listening to the teacher. Is there some new pedagogical technique that's been developed in the past 10 years that I should know about?
Now that Apple is popular and trendy, any mention of Apple in a news story is sure to attract attention, clicks, viewership, listeners, etc. News media doesn't care about working conditions in China any more than the average American, otherwise they'd be complaining about/to every tech company in the country. They just want the ratings that come with putting "Apple" in a story.
On the other hand, if any company were to take an active stance on the working conditions of its production labor, I really think it'll be Apple. A couple years back when environmentalists picked up the "let's pick on Apple to gain attention" tactic, Apple responded with efforts to make their products greener and promote recycling. Obviously international labor laws aren't as easy to fix but Apple cares enough about its customers' opinions and its image to try.
Game companies, like more and more content and service providers, seem to be contesting the concept of ownership. They want to charge just as much (or more) for their products as they've done in the past but with fewer associated rights. Or they want you to pay perpetual subscription and licensing fees. Secondary markets for games (and books, music, clothes, cars, etc.) aren't some new phenomenon created by interweb hackers and sexting teenagers. Its been a fact of life for commerce for quite a long time. Why suddenly begin treating it like a threat to your business now?
And don't forget "custom editions" of textbooks that are exclusively available at a single school's bookstore. Bookstore gets to set sale and buy-back prices however they want. Students are basically forced to deal with the campus store.
I looked at the wiki linked in the summary but it wasn't what I'd call enlightening. Could someone explain (or direct me to an explanation) of magnet links vs. torrents? I'm assuming its a more secure system, but I'm curious how.
BTW, yes I know "Is your google broken?", "here let me google that for you", etc. But, sometimes its nice to get answers from sentient beings instead of an algorithm.
Next thing you know, everyone will have to buy appliances with electron guns, magnetrons, lasers and other outlandish sci-fi devices built into them. They'll probably take up entire rooms and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!
Building the 21st century's answer to the stethoscope - multipurpose, portable, everyone uses it - isn't enough incentive? Actually, it probably isn't these days. Nobody is interested in taking real risks.
This sounds great and all, but it seems a shame that they've got to bribe people into developing such a device. A portable, multi-purpose medical diagnostic tool isn't sufficiently desirable on its own? You'd think something like this would have been in development for years already.
My dog was deathly afraid of the vacuum. I can't imagine most pets tolerating something like this.
However, if you can convince them that a sexy woman is running the robot, lonely mmo-addicts will pay huge amounts of money for this kind of interaction.
Its not even just Bioware games. The current gen of console and PC games assume you're playing on an HD screen and so the text is scaled accordingly. I ended up having to get an HDTV shortly after purchasing a PS3 because I couldn't read the interface, instructions, or quest text at more than 2-3ft. from the screen. Strictly PC games usually have better UI scaling options than consoles.
You know you're getting old when your blurry eyes force you stop playing, rather than a family member.
My dad actually called our cable company about the excessively loud commercials. They claimed that ads are recorded and broadcast using "lower quality audio" which results in them sounding louder than the normal programming. Sounds like just the kind of answer CS reps are trained to give to old people calling in with technical complaints.
Hopefully there's some enforcement to back up the new standards. Now, if only someone can come up with a way to increase the volume on the dialogue in TV and movies . . .
Textbook publishers were hating secondary markets before the games industry made it cool.
New editions with minor revisions is an old trick. Back in college, my mineralogy class was disappointed to find out that the bookstore dumped all the used copies of the textbook because a new edition had just come out. The new edition had a helpful page near the front that listed what had changed since the previous edition: a handful of photo credits and the addition of a list of mineralogy research award recipients in chapter 2.
But, online used book sellers are making this trick less effective. The latest tactic is custom books. They're just like the regular edition of the textbook, but with chapters missing or rearranged and the school's name and logo printed on the cover. Nobody is going to buy some other school's version of a book online and students would rather sell the book back to the bookstore for a pittance than gamble of finding a fellow student to sell to the next semester.
I've had publishing reps visit me at work a few times, trying to convince me to switch to custom books. I tell them I'm just a lowly adjunct and have no say in what books my department uses. Besides, the official textbook for my class is in its 4th ed. but I haven't seen any useful changes from the 1st ed., so I still use that.
How to lose all your money gambling during the holidays in a bad economy because you don't understand multivariate calculus. Accompanied by a Maple package on a separate site. Note: Do not attempt to eat the maple package after you've gambled away your grocery money.
My first computer had a 256Mb hard drive that stored the OS, applications, files, AND had room left to turn on virtual memory. And I had to walk uphill in the snow to buy floppy disks!
It used to be that if you didn't need a file any more you deleted it. If your disk filled up, you didn't just buy a new one. Aside from graphics, recording, and IT professionals, does anyone really need much more than a few hundred gigs? Or do that many people insist on digitizing their entire DVD library?
Every few years someone announces that they'll clone a mammoth within the next few years. I remember writing a science report about this in the 6th grade, around 1990-91. It'd be great if they finally do it, but I'm not holding my breath.
How much is a byte of data worth? Will the price of video per byte be the same as the price per byte for music? For text? For other forms of data or media? Who sets the price? I'm sure there are lots more questions that nobody in the industry is interested in answering right now because . . . money!
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Everything old is new again I see. Monarchies, theocracies, feudalism, etc. are based on the presumption that the "commoner" is incapable of ruling her/himself and that it is the holy privilege of a select few to rule.
Bullshit.
People are more educated, more connected, more aware of society on a large scale than ever before. Now is the time to have more democracy, not less. Eliminate the electoral college system so that voters outside of Iowa, California, and Florida get to decide national elections. Have more binding referendums and propositions so that people aren't stuck voting on which guy or gal in their town looks best in a suit but on actual issues that affect their lives.
Sure, voters don't research candidates and issues as much as we'd like and it would be great to have more scientists, engineers, and doctors running for office rather than lawyers and CEO's. That's idealism. To say that people simply aren't smart enough to govern themselves is elitist, bordering on fascist. I would rather be ruled by the collective will of a population with an 8th grade average literacy rate than the singular will of a man who happened to be born into the "right" family.
Sounds like a great deal, actually. I get free off-site storage and all I have to do it put little post-it notes over the webcams on my computers. I'd change the color each day, just to give their consumer data algorithm something different to look at. Only draw-back is the resulting spam email with offers for pills that will turn my penis yellow or electric blue.
This is similar to the NYC subway system. On weekdays for most lines, trains basically run every 5-10 minutes. Its always amusing when tourists walk up to me and ask what time the next train is scheduled to arrive. The flip side of that, of course, is the unpredictable delays due to track fires, random line work, winos pulling the emergency brake cord, express trains suddenly turning into locals, etc.
Better start living in underground bunkers to avoid EM radiation from the sun too . . .
Please PLEASE have the things say, in a deep electronic voice, "Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof." while walking. If they do that, I will buy all of them immediately.
My fondest memory of Sealab was when Hank got trapped under the orange soda machine . . .
This is a complaint I occasionally get in my classes - that students have trouble taking notes while listening to my lecture. Or, that they can't write down what's on the board and take notes on what I'm saying. I like to think it hasn't been too long since I was in school last, but maybe I'm older than I realize.
So, how exactly are teachers presenting information to classes at the junior high school level and above these days? I remember teachers talking while I wrote down key points and summaries of what they were saying. I remember copying or summarizing material they put up on a chalk board, transparency, or occasional powerpoint while listening to the teacher. Is there some new pedagogical technique that's been developed in the past 10 years that I should know about?
Now that Apple is popular and trendy, any mention of Apple in a news story is sure to attract attention, clicks, viewership, listeners, etc. News media doesn't care about working conditions in China any more than the average American, otherwise they'd be complaining about/to every tech company in the country. They just want the ratings that come with putting "Apple" in a story.
On the other hand, if any company were to take an active stance on the working conditions of its production labor, I really think it'll be Apple. A couple years back when environmentalists picked up the "let's pick on Apple to gain attention" tactic, Apple responded with efforts to make their products greener and promote recycling. Obviously international labor laws aren't as easy to fix but Apple cares enough about its customers' opinions and its image to try.
Game companies, like more and more content and service providers, seem to be contesting the concept of ownership. They want to charge just as much (or more) for their products as they've done in the past but with fewer associated rights. Or they want you to pay perpetual subscription and licensing fees. Secondary markets for games (and books, music, clothes, cars, etc.) aren't some new phenomenon created by interweb hackers and sexting teenagers. Its been a fact of life for commerce for quite a long time. Why suddenly begin treating it like a threat to your business now?
And don't forget "custom editions" of textbooks that are exclusively available at a single school's bookstore. Bookstore gets to set sale and buy-back prices however they want. Students are basically forced to deal with the campus store.
I looked at the wiki linked in the summary but it wasn't what I'd call enlightening. Could someone explain (or direct me to an explanation) of magnet links vs. torrents? I'm assuming its a more secure system, but I'm curious how.
BTW, yes I know "Is your google broken?", "here let me google that for you", etc. But, sometimes its nice to get answers from sentient beings instead of an algorithm.
Next thing you know, everyone will have to buy appliances with electron guns, magnetrons, lasers and other outlandish sci-fi devices built into them. They'll probably take up entire rooms and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!
Building the 21st century's answer to the stethoscope - multipurpose, portable, everyone uses it - isn't enough incentive? Actually, it probably isn't these days. Nobody is interested in taking real risks.
This sounds great and all, but it seems a shame that they've got to bribe people into developing such a device. A portable, multi-purpose medical diagnostic tool isn't sufficiently desirable on its own? You'd think something like this would have been in development for years already.
Didn't all this happen last year? The unauthorized Steve Jobs doll. The sketchy Chinese manufacturer. The lawsuits.
we'll have the ability to collect solar energy on a large scale and transfer it to some sort of storage device that attaches to the phone . . .
My dog was deathly afraid of the vacuum. I can't imagine most pets tolerating something like this.
However, if you can convince them that a sexy woman is running the robot, lonely mmo-addicts will pay huge amounts of money for this kind of interaction.
Its not even just Bioware games. The current gen of console and PC games assume you're playing on an HD screen and so the text is scaled accordingly. I ended up having to get an HDTV shortly after purchasing a PS3 because I couldn't read the interface, instructions, or quest text at more than 2-3ft. from the screen. Strictly PC games usually have better UI scaling options than consoles.
You know you're getting old when your blurry eyes force you stop playing, rather than a family member.
My dad actually called our cable company about the excessively loud commercials. They claimed that ads are recorded and broadcast using "lower quality audio" which results in them sounding louder than the normal programming. Sounds like just the kind of answer CS reps are trained to give to old people calling in with technical complaints.
Hopefully there's some enforcement to back up the new standards. Now, if only someone can come up with a way to increase the volume on the dialogue in TV and movies . . .
Textbook publishers were hating secondary markets before the games industry made it cool.
New editions with minor revisions is an old trick. Back in college, my mineralogy class was disappointed to find out that the bookstore dumped all the used copies of the textbook because a new edition had just come out. The new edition had a helpful page near the front that listed what had changed since the previous edition: a handful of photo credits and the addition of a list of mineralogy research award recipients in chapter 2.
But, online used book sellers are making this trick less effective. The latest tactic is custom books. They're just like the regular edition of the textbook, but with chapters missing or rearranged and the school's name and logo printed on the cover. Nobody is going to buy some other school's version of a book online and students would rather sell the book back to the bookstore for a pittance than gamble of finding a fellow student to sell to the next semester.
I've had publishing reps visit me at work a few times, trying to convince me to switch to custom books. I tell them I'm just a lowly adjunct and have no say in what books my department uses. Besides, the official textbook for my class is in its 4th ed. but I haven't seen any useful changes from the 1st ed., so I still use that.
How to lose all your money gambling during the holidays in a bad economy because you don't understand multivariate calculus. Accompanied by a Maple package on a separate site. Note: Do not attempt to eat the maple package after you've gambled away your grocery money.
My first computer had a 256Mb hard drive that stored the OS, applications, files, AND had room left to turn on virtual memory. And I had to walk uphill in the snow to buy floppy disks!
It used to be that if you didn't need a file any more you deleted it. If your disk filled up, you didn't just buy a new one. Aside from graphics, recording, and IT professionals, does anyone really need much more than a few hundred gigs? Or do that many people insist on digitizing their entire DVD library?
Every few years someone announces that they'll clone a mammoth within the next few years. I remember writing a science report about this in the 6th grade, around 1990-91. It'd be great if they finally do it, but I'm not holding my breath.
I'm sure they'd make good eating, though.
How much is a byte of data worth? Will the price of video per byte be the same as the price per byte for music? For text? For other forms of data or media? Who sets the price? I'm sure there are lots more questions that nobody in the industry is interested in answering right now because . . . money!
I never thought I'd see a resonance cascade, let alone create one . . .